Wings of Salvaxes
The Wings of Salvaxes, in their brief existence as a Space Marine Chapter have carved for themselves a vicious and brutal reputation for wanton slaughter and savage violence. Alone they stand amongst the noble Sons of Sanquinius as dark pariahs of all that the Blood Angels' lineage seek to avoid. Eschewing the jump pack assaults of their Primogenitors and sister chapters, the Wings of Salvaxes instead make use of massed mounted charges, spewing forth death from their guns unhindered by their savage recoil, before crashing into their foes like an avalanche - chainswords hacking and wheels crushing all that stand in their way. Their momentum expended, they will peel away from the assault as their psychotic Death Company terminators join the fray in a bloodbath of blasting stormbolters and crackling power fists. They will then either roar off to find more foes, or circle around and join their terminator brethren in the slaughter of the Emperor's foes. History: The mercurial and uncertain date of the 24th Founding means that it is unknown exactly whether the Wings of Salvaxes were created in a regular founding or if they were instead forged with some singular purpose in mind. What is known is that unlike many of the Blood Angels' Successors, the Wings of Salvaxes reject the notions of brotherhood and solidarity espoused by their sister chapters. Where the majority of other chapters of Blood Angels lineage will seek counsel and support from both their Primogenitors and fellow Successors, the Wings of Salvaxes prefer stoic solitude, and over time, so too have the Blood Angels distanced themselves from these erratic and all too often savage marines. Founding (ca. 030.M39) The Wings of Salvaxes was founded upon the divergent belief that if the Red Thirst and the Black Rage cannot be controlled by the Sons of Sanguinius, then they must be harnessed and used to further the goals of the Imperium. This radical belief was proffered and cultivated by the Wings of Salvaxes' first Chapter Master, Taggath Kyrias of the Knights of Blood Space Marine Chapter, which would later go on to be declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the High Lords of Terra due to excessive destruction wrought against both friend and foe. Even amongst such a savage brotherhood, First Captain Kyrias was renown for his insatiable rage and bloodlust, but also for the contempt with which he held those who were not strong of will and pure of mind enough to resist the Black Rage. While he believed those Astartes who fell into the madness to be weak and pathetic, he valued their usefulness and their ferocity greatly. He railed against the custom of executing surviving Death Company members after the battle, claiming that they had not earned their rest, for only in death does duty end, not in madness. As a result, the Knights of Blood were all too eager to release their unsavoury Captain and grant him command over the newly formed Chapter of Space Marines. Naming themselves the Carmine Raiders, Kyrias and his newly budding chapter set off in the newly completed Battle Barge, The Crimson Beacon, to claim a world to call home, and a population from which to draw new recruits. Sailing the interplanetary darkness, they headed north from Baal in the direction of the Ghost Stars and the galactic east of the Segmentum Obscurus. As they continued to travel and fight north, they eventually encountered the massive Warp Storm known as the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath. Whether through headstrong bravery or simple foolishness, he then continued to lead them into that swirling vortex and through the Warp itself. While the inhabitants of Kyrias' fleet were gone, they experienced a time lapse of only a scant few hours, but in realspace the Carmine Raiders had vanished for a score of fifty years, and many had thought them prematurely condemned to destruction. However, fifty three years later, the Carmine Raiders burst forth once again, and this time on the far side of the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath. As they sailed ever northward into increasingly unmapped planetary regions, they happened upon a system that showed promise. This new locale was dubbed the Barbaris System by Kyrias, for it matched no accessible stellar cartographic maps and had been, for the most part it seemed, untouched by the Imperium of Man. However, it was not devoid of human life, and the initial assumption of new galactic space, was soon to be found incorrect. Of the newly discovered system's three planets, only one was habitable in any way, shape or form. The furthermost planet was a large gas giant many times the size of Terra's Jupiter, surrounded by a cluster of moons that orbited the gas giant with such force that they were perpetually locked in calamitous seismic destruction. Similarly was the closest planet to the system's baleful sun inhospitable to human life - a world of molten stone and acidic rain. The very land-masses themselves that swam within the corrosive seas were mercurial and formless in nature. However, within the system's habitable zone, sat the planet Barbaris Secundae, a seemingly barren rock of shifting black sand deserts and worn, stony peaks. Upon the surface of the planet, there was naught to suggest any life existed whatsoever upon its dark surface, but looks are often deceiving, and there was an obvious marker of human contact. A crashed wreck of an Imperial cruiser upon the slopes of a sand worn mountain. Geothermic scans revealed a molten core, and that the planet's mass and density was of a much lower quantity than the planet's size had initially led them to believe. This, and the discovery of the wrecked cruiser warranted enough reason to investigate, and soon landing parties had been dispatched to explore the wreck, and take more detailed analyses of the planet's surface. True to appearances, the surface world of the planet was a desolate wasteland, its grainy deserts formed of ground volcanic rock, and proffered little to no ability for any sort of flora to cultivate. Similarly, the wrecked cruiser was a long abandoned husk, its immense armoured plating and internal support structures all that remained of the once mighty vessel, every piece of reusable material having been stripped or destroyed in the impact. However, no bodies were found, either having been consumed by some yet unknown wildlife, or been taken away along with the innards of the ship. There was one thing that was immediately certain, There had been survivors from the crash. A brief foray of the surrounding rocky slopes revealed two important pieces of information. Firstly, there were numerous crevices, caves and deadfalls littering the mountainside, seemingly of natural formation within the highly porous, volcanic stone. Secondly, the Chapter ascertained precisely why no life existed upon the surface of Barbaris Secundae. Far on the horizon, loomed an immense, titanic sandstorm. Easily matching speeds of over three hundred kilometres an hour, within its dense black cloud no doubt flew billions of the small, volcanic rocks that made up the black deserts of Barbaris. The Marines would need shelter, and quickly. Too far from their transports to safely extract back to the orbiting Crimson Beacon, they instead retreated into the honeycomb cave network of the mountain, voxing the transports to return to orbit and retrieve the stranded Space Marines once the storm had passed. So, hidden within the mountain, the Astartes could only wait for the storm to strike, and when it did, it struck with fury. The howling winds and battering stone assailed the mountain with force, and the Astartes found themselves having to fall back ever further into the subterranean realm in order to escape the worst of the vicious storm. It was as they delved deeper underground, that the first signs of the human survivors became evident. Signs of artificial alterations and man-made tunnels began to become evident, and the deeper they delved, the larger these caverns became. As the hours of downward descent continued, Kyrias began to despair that life was as equally inhospitable below ground as above, meaning that whatever humans survived the shipwreck, had no doubt eventually died of starvation. There was no sign of even the most basic form of life, despite numerous pieces of evidence suggesting the opposite, for as they descended, the air became more and more rich in oxygen and other gases and minerals. It was then, as Kyrias sat on the brink of conceding defeat, and returning to the surface, that they struck. A dozen primitive, armed humans descended upon the Space Marines, who were taken off guard by the suddenness and ferocity of the attack. The Astartes who were the recipients of the initial surprise attack, were beaten back by the sheer savagery of the warriors. It was unknown how the humans could see in such pitch black conditions, but they fought with a wild abandon and merciless accuracy. When they discovered that the Astartes' power armour was more than a match for their crude instruments, they began to stab at eyes and into the soft neck armour of the transhuman warriors. Though none of the Space Marines fell to such an ill-equipped force, numerous brothers lost eyes or even suffered serious gashes to the soft portions between their ceramite plate. With a mighty roar, brother Augio let loose a gout of burning promethium from his flamer, and in an instant, half a dozen of the human attackers fell in screaming heaps. Burning spectacularly with bright orange fire, their bodies illuminated the cavern in bright golden light for the first time. In such light, the true appearance of both forces could be made out clearly. The human warriors, taken aback by the sudden burst of flame and the bright light of their burning comrades, regrouped and seemed to prepare to press the assault. However, suddenly the savage in the lead stopped, and stared at the armoured chest of Taggath Kyrias, who stood defiantly at the head of his Space Marine scouting force, the Imperial Aquila emblazoned proudly upon his chest. At the sight of the aquila, the lead warrior stopped and corralled his brethren, pointing his crude blade at the symbol and speaking in a rough, simple language that Kyrias could barely make out as severely degraded low gothic. The warrior seemed to converse briefly with his fellows, before stepping forward, slowly and cautiously, his weapon still in hand, but held low at his side. As he approached Kyrias in the light of the burning men, he seemed to pause and think, looking away and muttering to himself, as if trying to remember a long lost lesson. Slowly, and with great apparent difficulty, the warrior turned to the Space Marine Chapter Master and said two words, with a pride that belied his savage appearance, "Ah... Ahh..ve... Imperator." Kyrias raised his gauntlet-covered hands and brought them together over his chest, one hand on the other, thumbs together, with fingers spread wide - the formal salute of the Imperial Aquila. The warriors eyes widened and he looked prepared to drop to the ground in supplication, before the crackle of his burning comrades brought him back to his senses. He looked sternly at Kyrias again and beckoned for him to follow. And so, follow, Kyrias did. Another hour of downward climbing revealed a number of intriguing quirks of the barbaric humans; their weapons, Kyrias observed, were crude, misshapen chunks of metal that he instantly recognised as cannibalised pieces of the wrecked ship on the planet's surface. The pieces were worn and well used, bearing the tell tale scrapes of a lifetime of sharpening, or perhaps several. Also the natives' outfits were of bizarre appearance, for they resembled in shape and design, crude replications of Imperial Navy uniforms. They were made from leather, skins and what appeared to be chitinous plates. As Kyrias observed, they even possessed crude, simplistic markings akin to the Imperial Aquila, and the Imperial Navy. Whoever these strange savages were, they had at least at some time, had contact with the servicemen and women of the Imperial cruiser above. As the Carmine Raiders continued into the earth, the sounds of life began to softly reach their enhanced hearing, and before long, the marines were revealed unto the fate of the lost cruiser crew. Beholden before them, within an immense cavern unlike that which they had previously encountered, was a city of stone. Thousands of crude caves had been carved from the porous stone, and within them moved humans who observed the foreign space marines with a mixture of awe, fear and curiosity. They were dressed similarly to the warriors, in rough hewn cloaks of leather and hide, and they similarly had crude representations of the imperial aquila painted upon these clothes. As the warrior band led them further into the cave, more and more humans began to appear, swiftly surrounding the marines in a thronging mass of dirty skin and dark eyes. It was then Kyrias realised, that he could see, see without the need for his night optic helmet lenses. As he looked for the source of the light, his eyes eventually landed upon the cavernous pit below the underground city, and what lay beneath it. What must have been a hundred feet down was a roiling lake of magma, the light and heat of its golden red surface rising up into the cavern, providing the light and heat by which these people lived. Led around the lip of the enormous cavern, Kyrias and his marines were shown through a large doorway and into another smaller, but still impressive cavern, within which was a large flat floor, upon which many people knelt, heads and bodies bowed in supplication, and despite the fact there must have been over a thousand within the chamber, they did not come close to even filling a quarter of the caverns breadth. It was then Kyrias eyes were drawn to the object of their worship, and he gasped along with a dozen of his fellow brothers. Before them, in the centre of the cavern of worship, stood an immense stone statue, crudely carved, but unmistakable. Before them stood the Emperor of Mankind, a solid gold imperial Aquila, beautifully crafted and surely not forged here, clasped within the statues grasp. Below the stature knelt another one of the savages, however, unlike the others, he was clad in fabric robes of purest white. At their arrival, the man stood and turned, his aged face smiling peacefully. He spoke softly, but the chamber magnified his words tenfold, echoing across the cave in a resonance that reached every corner of the chamber of worship. "Welcome, Astartes, we have waited for so long, and at last, you have come. The Emperor has answered our prayers, just as we knew He would. My name is Gertran Molz, and we are the children of the Salvaxes." After a deep and thorough discussion with Gertran Molz, Kyrias discovered the elder's tale of how he and his people arrived, and survived, upon the planet Barbaris. Molz detailed the story he had been told by the high priest before him, as he had been told by his predecessor, and so on and so forth. The story began with a great journey, Molz relayed, that his people had been chosen, singled out, to rise and travel across the stars to the Emperor's realm of light and peace. However, they had become lost. The Journey had been betrayed to the darkness, and the darkness hungered for the souls of the Emperor's faithful. As they had sailed the sea of stars, they had been struck by the storm, sent to waylay them, and they had been thrown adrift through the abyss. They were ejected from the Darknesses storm thanks to the grace of the Emperor, who in His infinite mercy heard their prayers and released them from oblivion. However, they had fallen short in their faith, and ceased their prayer once they were free of the storm. As a result, when they tried to resume their journey, they found themselves stranded, their engines failed and wrecked, and only their lives left untouched so that they could contemplate on their lack of faith. However, the Emperor saw fit that they would have the time to reach their absolution, and lay the ship to rest upon the surface of Barbaris. Here they were tested in mind, body and spirit, and only those possessed of pure heart and strong will, survived. When Kyrias asked how long the ship had laid strewn upon the planet's surface, the priest replied that generations uncountable had lived and died waiting for the Emperor to send them their salvation, a salvation that had finally come in the form of the mighty Space Marines. While the mere existence and survival of the people of Barbaris was an odd miracle in and of itself, many within the chapter, Kyrias included, harboured doubts concerning the purity and faith of the planet's inhabitants. As the sand storm on the planet's surface passed, reinforcements were sent down to the surface from the Crimson Beacon, chief amongst them the Chapter's standing Master of Sanctity, Galero Ventra. As they made planetfall, they were met by an unusual welcoming party. A full ten man squad stood patiently upon the planet's onyx surface, with a small trio of male savages standing by their side, as the welcoming committee met with Ventra and his rescue force, they relayed the events of the previous twelve hours. They had been sent to the surface with a trio of Barbarosi guides to speed their ascent, to meet with Ventra and escort him back down into the planet's subterranean realm, and the human survivors settlement within it. On the explicit orders of Chapter Master Kyrias, they were too charged with a secondary mission unknown to the native populace, for Ventra to make his own judgement of the native's purity, and judge whether they should be purged, or re-integrated into Imperial society. Ventra took to his duty with the utmost severity. Upon re-entering the Barbarosi cave-city, Ventra begun his judgement, one that would either spell doom or salvation for the regressed savages. He interrogated every priest, every warrior and had his marines search the homes of all the inhabitants of the under-city. Though the primitives' religion and culture had regressed far upon the unforgiving planet, Ventra found their simplistic, metaphorical faith to be very much in keeping with the Imperial Cult of the late 37th Millennium. Further investigation revealed the startling truth of the ship above and the astounding conviction and piety of those who survived its crash. The ship had been apart of the Lost Crusade, the fleet of pilgrim ships that had become lost in the Warp on the way to Terra, the fleet that had been missing for over two millennia. They also learned the name of the crashed vessel, its ancient hull an object of holy reverence for the people of Barbaris, the ancient ship had once been known, as The Salvaxes. The miracle of their survival, the piety of their faith, and the determination to survive the alien planet struck all the marines present, and within hours of the discussion, a decision was reached. This new planet, this strange, hostile, alien world, with its hardy, devout people, would be the chapter's new home world. No longer would they be the Carmine Raiders, no longer would they bear the noble silver of their primogenitors, from now on they would daub their armour as the pitch dark sands of Barbaris, and the crimson blood of the Emperor's foes. They would be the Carmine Raiders no more, for though The Salvaxes had lain dormant and decrepit for millennia, its people would rise again. On the angel wings of Sanquinius's sons, the people of Barbaris would rise from the ashes, and deliver their mighty faith to battle against the Emperor's foes, so would they be uplifted by the chapter, so would they be borne, upon the Wings of Salvaxes. Campaign of Mercy (879.M39) The Mercy System within the Segmentum Pacificus, long neglected by the Imperium and its agents, had fallen prey to the predations of the Chaos Warband, the Reavers of Archeros. Rather than simply ravaging the system and plundering its resources once, the vicious renegades demanded tithes of both resources and slaves in order to stave of the populaces annihilation. This extortion of the systems wealth went unchecked for standard several centuries, until a waylaid Imperial Navy vessel made warp transition in system. Thinking the vessel of the Reavers returned early, the populace pleaded with the navy vessel for more time as the ship tried to negotiate resupply and information. After much confusion, the Imperial vessel's Captain was eventually made aware of the system wide extortion, and promised to return with aid. Quite by chance, as the vessel made its way back to its home fleet, it crossed paths with the Strike Cruiser, Gertrans Faith, along with its escort ships as it patrolled the reaches of space. Relaying the systems plight to the Astartes warships, they pleaded with the Marines to answer the Mercy System's plea, and free them from the stranglehold of the renegades. They curtly agree to investigate, and the Navy vessel resumed its homeward journey, unaware of the fate they have consigned the inhabitants of Mercy. The Wings of Salvaxes made warp travel to the Mercy System, and found the system already occupied. A small Chaos fleet was orbiting the systems Primary agri-world, Mercy II, and were already beginning countermeasures. However, the fleet did not move to flee, and it became apparent that the Majority of the chaos forces present were planetside, exacting their annual tithe from the populace. The Wings made haste to trap them on the planet's surface. Gunships and Drop pods rained upon the surface of Mercy II and battle was met between the traitorous marines and the loyal Wings of Salvaxes. Likewise above, a wrathful firefight erupted between the two fleets, chaos arms and armour facing off against imperial Plasteel and cannons. Though boths sides suffered heavy losses, both refused to back down, and a bloody toll was exacted from both loyalist and heretic alike. On the surface, the warped Reavers did battle with the mounted charges of the Wings of Salvaxes. Mercy II's fertile agri-plots provided excellent ground over which their bikes and speeders could roam and seek out the enemy, and provided little in the way of defensive fortifications for the traitor forces. However, what truly spelled doom for both the chaos forces on the ground and in the skies was the remorseless, unfeeling and unstoppable Death Company. Used as a blunt instrument, the Terminator Armour-clad psychopaths were let loose upon the foe. Whether they were teleported onto enemy ships or crudely delivered by Caestus assault rams and land raiders, they were sent to their deaths with a callousness that would make a commissar baulk. However they performed their role well. Despite the hopeless doom the Death company faced wherever they were sent, they unleashed pure fury into the ranks of those who opposed them, taking dozens or even more enemy marines down with them in every brutal, bloody conflict. For every Death company terminator sent to die, a score of traitors would fall with them, and it was not long before the insides of the Traitor ships, and the bastions of the traitor marines, were little more than gore splattered tombs. Within days of fighting, the guns of the Traitor ships ceased, and all that could be heard aboard the chaos vessels was the bellows of madmen that had run out of victims. It did not take long for the ground forces to succumb in a similar manner to their ships. Those Death company terminators who survived the carnage were captured once more, the power packs within their terminator armour deactivated, and reducing their thick ceramite plates to little more than dead weight, and so encumbered they were reclaimed alongside the dead, whose plate would be repaired and provided to the next to fall to the fatal curse. As the sun rose on a imperial victory, the populace of Mercy II emerged from their hiding places and cheered for their liberators, these crimson and black Marines that had been sent to deliver them from the oppression of the chaos raiders. They received nothing but stony silence from the Marines as they collected their dead and wounded, and reclaimed those vehicles both functional and debilitated. Once the post battle necessities were complete, a single message was broadcast over every frequency: "You stand guilty of colluding and aiding elements traitorous to the Imperium. The punishment for this crime is death. May the Emperor forgive your souls, for you shall receive no mercy from us." What followed this message was a massacre on a system wide level, every man, woman and child was put to the sword. All guilty of the charges laid by the brutal astartes. Great pyres burned for the dead as every living inhabitant of the system was executed and incinerated to purge any lingering taint. This genocide complete, the marines burned those fields and agri-plots that remained, purifying all in holy promethium. This complete, a single message was sent to the Adeptus Terra: Death to the Maiden (478.M40) Eldar Exodites are a well documented, if not often targeted aspect of the Eldar xenos threat, due mainly to their limited ability for attack, and powerful capabilities on the defence. Despite this however, when the Wings of Salvaxes exit warp drive several light years from their intended location, and several years too late to make any impact upon the engagement's outcome, they are presented with a Exodite colony ripe for Imperial acquisition. War is commenced immediately, and the Eldar, despite their propensity for precognition, are taken aback by the ferocious savagery of the Astartes advance. Knowing that the Exodites strength grows as time wears on, they execute a plan of conquest that leaves nothing left of the xenos filth. While the beasts of the Exodite warhosts proved formidable and able to both match the Salvaxean assaults in both speed and destructive power. Ultimately what would lead to the Exodites downfall, was the Wings of Salvaxes overwhelming firepower compared to the the xenos forces. While the destructive power of the Maiden worlds wild beasts, brought to bear by the Exodites World spirit, was certainly a force that could destroy tank columns and overrun fortifications, they could be put down from afar with blast and bolt. And while their Reptilian cavalry warriors could easily outpace the Salvaxes own mounted units, they lacked the protective armour offered by the astartes plate, and in protracted battles could not hope to maintain their offensive superiority. As the Astartes slowly pushed back the xenos forces, too did allies from the webway begin to appear. Craftworld Aeldari clad in orange and grey marched forth from their secret webway gates, accompanied by the ranged capabilities the Exodites themselves lacked. The tide, once in the Astartes favour, now shifted and prepared to turn on the Space Marine forces. However, the Eldar were not prepared for the simple, callous regard in which the chapter held its Death Company. After being held in reserve, locked in stasis, the Cpace marine commanders saw fit now the time to deploy their fallen brethren, for they had finally located the means by which they would secure their victory. The location of the largest exodite tribal barrow, from which the priests of the temple soothed and steered the World Spirit's wrath. To call the Death Company's arrival at a barrow a massacre, would not do due justice the true carnal onslaught that with them they brought. The Eldar Priests, while powerful psykers in their own right, had no chance against the raging, psychopathic warriors. As Eldar blood stained more and more of the hallowed space, the world spirit became ever more enraged, the Eldars control over the natural elements of their world fading. When a Death Company marine was impaled on a soulspear and pinned to the barrow's sacred altar, where the spirit stones of dead exodites were shattered to release their soul to the World Spirit, the Eldar lost any semblance of control. Whether is was simply the defilement of the sacred altar with the blood of a Mon'keigh, or whether the insanity coursing through the marine at the time of his death, somehow "infected" the World Spirit with his madness, and sent the psychic collective into a self destructive rage. Volcanoes long left dormant blossomed to life, earthquakes shuddered and crack the land, and great tidal waves battered the shorelines. Not even the skies were safe from the unchained world spirits wrath, and Eldar and space marine craft alike was struck from the sky with gusts of hurricane wind and spears of blinding lightning. As the world tore itself apart in bloody cataclysm, the Wings of Salvaxes were eager to leave the now burning, turbulent hellscape. Retreating to orbit, though arduous through the storms, it was achieved, and the Space Marine forces watched from orbit as the planet consumed itself. When the planet's violent rages eventually died out, the Marines returned to investigate. Of the Eldar, there was no living sign, whether they perished, or retreated through the few remaining warpgates, no one knew and none cared. An Adeptus Mechanicus explorator fleet was contacted as the the now uninhabited, prime world, and they left. The blood lust within them appeased. Chapter Homeworld , the inhospitable death world and Chapter Homeworld of the Wings of Salvaxes.]] Barbaris is a hostile world at best, and certain doom at worse. Battered year round by violent winds exceeding over three hundred kilometres an hour, to be caught on the surface during such a gale is certain death, for along with the winds come the whipping storms of deadly black sand. So violent is this barrage of crystalline fragments, that is is akin to the fiercest of fragmentation explosions. Terminator armour and even Tank chassis proffers little protection from its remorseless onslaught, even if the gale wouldn't blow the unfortunate vehicle away like a tumble weed. Nothing lives upon the surface of Salvaxes. Nothing ever could. The world below is a very different story. The half natural, half excavated tunnels that burrow beneath the surface of Barbaris are a hive of life, much of it as inimical to human life as the billowing winds above. Great ground boring wyrms writhe through the earth, boring as many new tunnels as they do destroy old ones as their great bodies crash through walls and bring down the ceilings of massive caverns. Bio-luminescent flora fill the otherwise lightless caves and caverns, their pale light often the only means by which to see in the pitch black tunnels. Feeding upon such plant life are any myriad of large insectoid creatures, resembling anything from oversized beetles and ants, to creatures from some sort of nightmare. Arthropodic beasts many meters long crawl through the darkness, wicked barbed stings or powerful, chitinous jaws dripping with toxins arming their large, dangerous and highly aggressive frames. Worse still are those creatures above them in the food chain, those beasts within the depths that actually hunt and feed upon the flesh of the tunnels inhabitants. Tunnel Louse To off-worlders, the name would be construed as misleading, alluding to perhaps a parasite common to the dark tunnels and caverns, that some unfortunate passer-by may contract and suffer irritation from. The truth is less so irritating and mildly more horrifying. Tunnel Louse is a catch all term for the foot long beetle like aliens that live within the tunnel systems, eating the bio-luminescent plant matter that grows periodically along the tunnel walls. Although small by Barbaris standards, the Tunnel Louse are no less a threat to passers by. While the beetles are only aggressive if provoked, they possess a pair of powerful, chitinous claws akin to a crustacean of ancient Terra. While primarily used for grasping and and scraping plant matter off walls, the claws make for strong defensive weapons, added to by the creatures thick chitinous plating. Despite these dangers however, the beast is a staple food amongst the people of Barbaris, as for all its protection, it is still the least dangerous creature in the tunnels, and its flesh, while no exactly delicious, is packed with high volumes of nutrients and minerals, as well as the standard protein. Shivverback Shivverbacks are again a catch all term for the various species of larger herbivores that inhabit the tunnels. Larger than Tunnel Louse by a significant degree, and far more aggressive, the Shivverbacks are avoided whenever possible, for unlike the Louse, their meat is not only unpalatable, but toxic, to humans at least. Armed with large rending jaws, the Shivverbacks get their name from the unsettling, quivering way in which they move their bodies, the long, segmented back plates rippling with every wave of their many legged steps. While a single bite is more than enough to tear open a mans chest, they have evolved to protect themselves from the larger predators of the tunnels, and produce a neurotoxin that, although will only slow down and make sluggish the mighty barbarosi predators, will paralyse a man in minutes from even a small bite, and without medical treatment, stop his heart. Granite Men The Granite men, or simply Granites, are tall, bulky insectoids with large, powerful shoulders and armoured backs. Possessed of four large arms and a half dozen stout legs, they appear as bizarre arthropodic centaurs, and act in much the same way. Herd animals by nature, they form family groups of a half dozen females and a single, larger Male, identifiable by the large spines that protrude from their back armour. These herds will migrate habitually, and will simply crush and consume those creatures that get in their way. They breed and spread by laying eggs in a location and then moving on, so as not to contaminate the genepool with inbreeding. As many as a dozen eggs per female will be laid, but few will survive to adulthood. Juvenile Granites are highly aggressive to even their own kind, and spend much of their young lives fighting one another, whether they are male or female, driving them apart from one another in an effort to survive. As they reach maturity, changes in their bio-chemistry alter their behaviour somewhat. Females will become drawn to other mature males thanks to pheromones released during this coming of age. Similarly will the males cease to be aggressive to females and protect them as part of their "brood". Rival males however, will still fight on sight for the right to a hunting ground and any females the two have amassed, with the winner of the fight to the death claiming the defeated foes females as his own. Shriekers Shriekers are large, spider like creatures that are perhaps the most horrific of all Barbaris' predators, for they are known to keep their victims alive for days, weeks, or even months at a time. Their large chitinous lower bodies are possessed of a good dozen long, powerful segmented legs, each ending in a large bony point. These legs are used for transportation, combat and moulding the mucous like slime that they produce and build their homes from. This however is only half of the horror that is a Shrieker, for while their lower bodies are very much bestial, their upper halves are all too humanoid. Their upper bodies mimicking the shape of a human, but much larger, they possess two humanoid arms that end in nimble, clawed hands, and a half dozen other appendages similar to their legs, that sprout from their upper bodies "back". Their heads and faces are a freakish combination of insect and humanoid skull, with large, bony jaws and a pair of beady, black eyes, large chitinous crests sitting above them, giving them a regal, if horrific appearance. They are viciously intelligent and can formulate plans and hunting tactics that bely their terrifying appearance, and are adept at picking apart hunting parties one by one, stealing away a living victim into the darkness and paralysing it with a numbing agent, before returning for more prey. The origin of their name lies in their disturbing and uncanny ability to mimic the sounds of other Barbaris creatures, often cries of pain or distress in order to lure their prey into a carefully laid trap. It has adapted to the human settlers, and learnt to mimic human screams and pleas, making the Shrieker the most chilling and terrible of all the Barbaris predators. Taking its victims alive, the Shrieker will carry its prizes back to its den, a cave or chamber filled with hardened mucous walls and the remains of its previous, and still living prey. Precisely why the Shriekers keep their prey alive for such extended periods is not well understood, however, the anomaly is well documented. The Shrieker will incarcerate its new acquisition within the mucous wall with a fresh layer of swiftly hardening goo, which will bind even a space marine to the wall of the creatures den. Once secured, the Shrieker will tend to its guests needs, forcing the remains of previous meals down the unfortunate victims throats and force feeding it a cloudy, oil like serum from a specialized organ/gland located in the creatures skull, delivered by an extendible oral tube. Exactly what this substance is, is not well known, but it would appear to be a powerful aphrodisiac, hallucinogenic and mutagen. Victims subjected to prolonged exposure lose not only the will to escape the Shriekers possession, but become willingly dependant upon it for survival and happiness. They become addicted to the strange serum and violently desperate for its effects, to the point where those rare individuals saved from such a fate, more often than not escape their rescuers to return to the Shrieker. Should their host have been killed in the rescue, they will go maniacally searching for another, desperate for the serums effects. The mutagen aspect to the substance take its shape in changes to bodily chemistry and biology. One of the first effects is the secretion of a mucous similar to the creatures own from the eyes, fusing them shut, leaving the unfortunate victim blind to their ongoing horror. It will too send its victims glands into overdrive, producing an extreme excess of hormones and chemicals, even at the bodies own expense. Only once the victim is little more than a husk of liquid hormones and atrophied flesh, begging wordlessly for serum and the Shriekers attentions, will the beast release them from their existence, draining the potent cocktail of hormones and chemicals from the victim and finally allowing them to die. What is left of the victims body is then fed again to new victims, and cycle begins anew. Stone Wurm Stone Wurms are by far the largest of Barbaris subterranean fauna, measuring sometimes up to two kilometres in length, they dwarf all others and sit easily at the top of the food chain. Extremely territorial, they lay claim to vast swathes of ground, and battles between rivals can be titanic and apocalyptic for the inhabitants of the caves. Blind and deaf, they navigate by keen smell and earth vibrations, tunnelling through the earth at great speed, literally chewing their way through the crust, generating new tunnels and collapsing old ones with equal ease. While technically not a predator, they invariably end up consuming all manner of creature down their enormous gullet as they seek out potential threats, meaning other Stone Wurms. Stupid to the point of obliviousness, the Wurm will take any large ground movement or disturbance as a challenge to its territory, and in search of said opponent, will wreck and destroy anything in its path, invariably consuming anything it smells in an attempt to rid itself of the trespasser. Chapter Beliefs The chapter Cult has been heavily influenced by not only their primogenitors, the Knights of Blood, but by the brutal and fanatical people of Barbaris. Their first Chapter master, Taggath Kyrias believed that the twin curses of the Blood angels, the Red Thirst and the Black Rage, were things that the sons of Sanguinius would never be free of. As a result, the only logical course of action is to either learn to resist them, or to use them in the fight against the Emperor's Foes. As a result, they take a cold and logical approach to the Curses effects. The Red thirst they see as a simple addition to not only their ferocity, but their survivability, believing that the consumption of fallen brothers and honoured allies makes them stronger, and keeps the strength of the fallen in the hearts of the living. They however have very different views about the Black Rage. Such an uncontrollable fury and madness they find not only impairing to proper battle strategy, but a sign of mental weakness. To give into something as paltry as a vision they find the epitome of failure, and treat those who succumb to the Black rage as not honoured dead, but pathetic weaklings who can only find redemption in a battle death. They however are not going to let such a potent weapon as the black rage go to waste, no matter how they view those who succumb to it. Those who fall are placed into the Wings of Salvaxes own special Death Company, armed and armoured in terminator armour and the savage weapons such a vessel provides. In this way, those who succumb can still serve their chapter, and the Imperium, armoured so that their righteous fury can be exerted for the greatest length, redeeming their weakness with every slain foe, and every crushed opponent. Fanatical about the strength of their gene-seed, the Wings of Salvaxes keep stringent records of both the recipients of each individual set of gene-seed glands, but also whether those recipients succumbed to the flaw of the Black Rage. Those glands who's recipients have repeatedly succumbed to the Black Rage are stringently examined to determine whether there is some sort of inherent flaw in that particular batch, but thus far, no definitive markers of genetic weakness have been identified. However, the marines of the Chapter, and particularly the Sanguinary priests, display a certain superstitious notion towards geneseed glands that have repeatedly been implanted within a marine that has eventually fallen to the Black Rage. Such gene-seed stocks are often ignored or passed over when it comes to selecting gene seed stocks to be used within the next generation of Space marines, or are even disposed of by selecting those glands to be sent back to Mars as part of the gene-seed tithes. Whether this plays some part in the recessive nature of the Black Rage within the Chapter is unknown, but those marines who become aware of said flaws within their own geneseed glands will oft dedicate themselves further to the act of self-control, and prevent the curse that hangs over from actualising as their greatest fear. One of the most gruesome and violent aspects of the Wings of Salvaxes cultural practices, are those of their pre and post battle feasts. Both namely, involving the consumption of human flesh. Their Post battle feast, known as the Festum Mortuis, is a sombre and reserved affair, involving the sacred consumption of those brothers who died upon the field of battle, excluding those who died while in the throes of the Black Rage. This practice is performed so that the strength of the fallen can live on in the bodies of the living, or so the Wings believe, it is also a time for commemoration for those brothers that have particularly proven themselves upon the field of battle, claiming the honour of the first sip of the blood chalice or the honour of eating the heart of an esteemed fallen brother. Pre-battle feasts however, are a very different affair, known as the Festum Sacrificium, it involves the savage, and often carnal consumption, of still living human sacrifices. These humans are usually willing members of the chapter serfs or ship crew, to whom the ritual is a common, and much-respected event within the Wings of Salvaxes culture. However, at times when such sacrifices cannot be sourced, it has been known for Imperial Guard regiments, and even local civilian populations, to disappear in the night or nights before battle. The point of this feast is far simpler than its compatriot. Its purpose is to rile the marines of the chapter into a blood frenzy, and stoke the fires of war and rage within their hearts, so that when they step upon the field of battle the following day, their appetites are whetted for the slaughter to come, and they will fight all the more savagely to achieve victory. Chapter Gene-seed The gene-seed of the Wings of Salvaxes suffers from the same twin-genetic curses as their Blood Angels forebears - the Red Thirst and Black Rage. Aside from this however, there are little deviations of note between their own gene-seed and that of the Blood Angels. There is a marked increase in the number of marines afflicted by the Red Thirst, due to their embrace of the affliction, but the Black Rage is curiously subdued within the chapter, the stranglehold it claims over many other of the Blood Angels successors markedly reduced, with only roughly two dozen individuals suffering its afflictions at any one time. Whether this is in part due to their opinions of their chapter beliefs demonising the curse, or whether their surreptitious disposal and passover of "cursed" geneseed, it manifests itself within the chapter curiously, but no less clearly. Chapter Organisation The chapter is only partially compliant with the Codex Astartes, possessing ten companies in total, four battle companies, a single tactical reserve company, two assault companies and devastator company, and a veteran first and scout tenth. The deviations further occur, however, in exactly how those companies are equipped, used, and deployed. The first company is home to the finest of the chapters riders, and the most skilled of their combatants, however, they are not equipped and deployed as they are within other chapters. The veteran first company go to war almost exclusively astride Astartes issued space marine bikes, heavily modified and personalised to the Marines' own personal preference and speciality. These mounted veterans are masters of hit-and-run attacks, and experts in ambush and surprise, armed to the teeth with all manner of exotic weaponry. Forearm mounted blades and firearms allowing marines to ride and fight unimpeded, all the while blazing away with inbuilt guns, lightning fast comets of destruction. Similarly are their battle companies equipped for mounted and rapid deployment assault. Each battle company possesses only two tactical squads, and then four assault squads, usually biker detachments, that act as the main body of the force. Those brethren in the battle companies of tactical and devastator designation are not left behind, however, usually broken down into combat squads and placed in Razorback transports, they act as sources of fire support and used to capture and retain the Wings of Salvaxes battlefield objectives. Command squads of all companies are almost always mounted, and their commanders lead from the front, to perhaps, an even more excessive extent than their fellow space marines. Leading to an unusually frequent turnover of chapter command. They possess only a single Tactical reserve company, but two Assault reserves, and a single Devastator Company. Scouts are trained in both mounted and unmounted combat, using their infiltration skills to scout ahead of the main force, and using mines and harassing fire to break apart and disrupt enemy forces, making them easy prey for the oncoming storm of blood and fire. Dreadnoughts are viewed with an almost pitying reverence, especially those who resist the effects of the black Rage over their long incarceration. Usually mounted on the backs of Stormraven gunships, they are flown to battle and dropped among the foe where even denied the speed of his younger brethren, he may give hell to the Emperors enemies. The Apothacarion of the Chapter is too precious to the chapter to be deployed on the battlefield enmasse but oftentimes accompany the company command squads. They are tasked with the traditional role of the apothecaries of other chapters, in combing the battlefield post battle to recover the gene-seed of their fallen brothers. They too are often assisted in this task by a specially equipped astartes bike that allows them a wider array of tools and more storage space for their precious cargo. Even after the battle is won, war zones are ever fraught with danger and they are invariably accompanied by the best their chapter can spare to protect them n their sacred duties. Combat Doctrine The Combat doctrine of the Wings of Salvaxes is to strike swiftly, strike hard, and to not give the foe any time to recover. So after the Chapters scouts have softened, weakened and identified the enemies weak points, they main host will descend upon the foe. Astartes astride their fearsome mounts tear across the battlefield, anti-grav landspeeders and roaring Razorbacks shooting along beside them as the Chapters large aerial fleet soar overhead. As the main host enters firing range, the unrelenting guns of their mechanical steeds and their armored transports will spew forth a torrent of withering fire, cutting down those in their path and driving to cover any who survive the fusillade. However, the barrage will not cease, the guns of the Wings of Salvaxes firing till they are within a breath of the enemies lines, and then can the true slaughter commence. Screaming blood curdling cries as they clash with the enemy, they will plough into their foes like a Stonewurm through rock. Riding hard and striking harder until they force their way straight through the line and past the forward defences. As the enemy forces rally to rebuild their defensive line, they will find themselves facing a far more horrific foe. Brought to the field by soaring Stormravens, Caestus assault rams and Stormeagles, the Terminator armour clad Death Company will charge forth into the enemies lines. It is then that the blood will truly begin to run in rivers. Where the Mounted companies are a deadly, knightly charge that crushes all before it, the Death company are savage beasts that will claw, slash and pulverise anything that so much as moves. You could hide from the Initial barrage, dive away from the mounted charge, but there is never, ever, any escape from the Death Company, and any non-chapter allies present will also find themselves on the receiving end of a Death company lightning claw, their last sensation the bellowing rage of the maddened marine behind it. Notable Chapter Members Chapter Master Eulitus Ephrain: Young, savage, ruthless and fuelled by a righteous conviction in his beliefs and duties, Ephrain flies across the battlefield on his Astartes bike, his mighty power spear Mordred in one hand and gilded Storm Shield strapped to the other. As ruthless as he is tactically genius, Ephrain cares little how he and his chapter are viewed by others, believing the only measure by which they should be judged is the number of kills to their name. He leads forth his great bike companies in glorious charges and swift strikes, hitting with the force of a hurricane before disappearing into the night, the foe only receiving a brief reprieve before they realise one monster has merely been substituted for another. The Lost Captain Always nameless, always possessed of an intelligence that belies the savage nature of his post, as lord of the Death Company. The position of the Lost Captain is ever changing, and is frequently not actually a captain rank space marine at all. The title is bestowed upon whomever amongst the death company is the most lucid and tactically capable at the time, meaning that its occupants range from Chaplains all the way to scout initiates. They are placed within the relic Terminator armour of the Lost Captain, Defice Memoria, and sent to lead their lost brothers in battle, armed with the pair of wickedly hooked lightning claws, The Raptors Talons, ''to rip and tear their way to redemption in their chapters eyes. Chief Librarian Leadros Kerventes While other chapters boast chief librarians with the power to sweep away mountains and crush battleships with a grasping hand, the Wings of Salvaxes hold no such claim to fame. Chief Librarian Kerventes possesses average at best raw psychic power, and the mere fact he is the chief librarian at all is a strike of oddity to other chapters. However, what Kerventes lacks in raw psychic might, he more than makes up for in fine control and skill, able to channel the collective might of his brotherhood conclave into devastating blasts of telepathic energy, able to fragment whole structures with a single, channelled burst. It is on his own however, that he proves why he is the chief Librarian of the Wings of Salvaxes. Armed with the relic Force sword ''Aetermissa, Kerventes empowers his body with the power of the warp, and tears through his foes like a hurricane. There is no finer swordsman in the Chapter, and once enhanced by the warps power, he becomes an unstoppable force of destruction. Moving faster than the eye can track, striking harder than a warhound titan, and shrugging off blows that would crack the earth itself, he more than cements his place as chief Librarian, and lives up to his moniker, Aciem Sola, ''the Lone Army. First amongst the Coven, a collection of the Chapters finest Librarians, who will oft band. High Chaplain Audero Pentos To think of Pentos as a mere Chaplain or Reclusiarch does little to describe the type of man he is, and the fury he personifies. One of the few Marines as readily capable amongst the Death Company Terminators as he is amongst his mounted brethren, he leads all in the name of the Emperor and death. Whether clad in Terminator armour or astride his mighty bike, Pentos is an awe inspiring force, his martial skill and stirring oratory second to none. Larger than any other marine in the chapter, his strength is near legendary, capable of bringing down his Crozius Arcanum with such force, that tanks and mighty beasts alike are stricken low by his fury. Chief amongst his hatreds, are the insidious forces of chaos, who more than any other foe, has personally earned the ire of the High Chaplain, and those who worship the ruinous powers will find themselves sought out by Pentos, his raging hate unstoppable and unquenchable. No armour will protect, no walls withhold, and no prayers absolve, for the forces of chaos, Pentos will go to any length to crush beneath his fanged mace. Epistolary Jurin Tyre: Tyre, while now a respected and powerful Epistolary and second brother of the Coven, was somewhat of a late bloomer with his psychic gifts. The powers of the Warp did not manifest for Tyre until well into his life as a Space Marine. Initially inducted into the Apothecarion, Tyre later saw service in the Deathwatch as an Apothecary where he became an expert on Xenos physiology and biology, coupled with his own knowledge of human and space marine bodies, his skills in the art of dissection and examination of bodies was second to none. However, shortly after returning from his term on the Long Watch, Tyre began to exhibit signs of psychic potential, and he was transferred from the Apothecarion to the Librarius. Whether it was his exposure to the alien and strange encounters of the deathwatch and the reach, or whether it was simply the Emperors will, his psychic capabilities progressed at a furious rate. Tyre has penned many tomes for the chapter on the art of killing the alien, and his terrifying proficiency in doing such will strike fear into the heart of any xenos beast, no matter how impressive. Epistolary Ghura Orm Their brother of the Coven, Orm is less a soldier as he is a thundering force of nature, his psychic might capable of tearing apart fortifications and rending the battlefield with titanic blasts of telekinetic energy. While his powers are strong, his lack of control often sees him damage friend as much as foe, as such, he must often rely on his fellow Librarians to assist him in channelling this immense power, lest it consume him or those nearby. Preferring to be the face of destruction and desolation within the chapter, he is often ostracised by marines not of the Librarius, who see his wild temperament and bouts of rage, as a sign of the wearing of his mind, and many fear he may fall to the madness of the black rage soon, and Emperor help those nearby when the last of his mental shackles is loosened, and his psychic might unleashed. Epistolary Inias Mecrain Fourth brother of the Coven, Mecrains faith in not only himself, but the God Emperor, is something of a half joke, half legend amongst the Wings of Salvaxes. The Librarians fortuitous luck and unquenchable faith have seen him through some of the wildest, fiercest battles and allowed him to emerge unscathed. Defying impossible odds, Mecrain has managed to best foe after foe who by all accounts, should have lain him low, with little more than simple faith and destiny. Armed with nought but a force sword and a pistol, his incredible survive-ability has led to nought but his faith intensifying, and his arrogance heightening, going on single man assaults and diversions, drawing whole armies worth of fire down upon him, and yet still, somehow, he survives. Touched by fate or the Emperor himself, Mecrain has become a beacon of faith within the chapter, and despite the usual animosity between the Librarius and the Reclusiam, Mecrain and the High Chaplain are fast friends in both faith and fight. Epistolary Liamis Umin Fifth and final brother of the Coven, Liamis Umin was a gifted sniper in the scout company, a feared marksman in his tactical squad, and an inescapable hunter within the Librarius. Umins skills at picking out foes amongst cover and fortifications have only been amplified by his psychic gifts, and now through his warpsight, he is able to pick out even the best hidden foes, and smite them with impunity. Firing volley after volley of psychic missiles, his bolts twist and curve in the air, seeking out their targets like vicious aerial predators. By granting his insight into the marine under his command, Umin is able to direct the fire of his brothers with unnerving accuracy, and few foes will survive such volleys of fire, and none will find sanctuary behind barricades or jungle undergrowth. Even those who shroud their forces with unnatural warp mists or eldritch technologies will find no respite from the relentless, all seeing eyes of Umin, and those who think their foul warp magics or blasphemous xenos creations ill protect them will find themselves blown from the ground and sky by concentrated volleys of vicious fire that strike bold and true no matter the case. Chapter Fleet The Chapter possesses a number of vessels of greater and lesser degrees of import and stature, with the pride of their fleet being the Battle Barge ''Crimson Beacon, ''which serves as their flagship when on crusade. * 'Crimson Beacon (Battle Barge): Official flagship of the Chapter, the ship was previously owned by the Knights of Blood Chapter, the Wings of Salvaxes Primogenitors, and was passed down to them at their chapter inception. The Beacon has been seen at the head of many a crusade, ploughing its way through blockades to deliver its deadly payload to the war zones below, * ''Phoenix of Barbaris'' (Battle Barge): The Phoenix of Barbaris was built much later for the chapter, some time around the early 41st Millennia, its construction taking so long due to the fact that the Wings of Salvaxes insisted the Ship be forged using as many components of the ancient, crashed cruiser, the Salvaxes, as possible, meaning the components had to be shipped from Barbaris' surface to the Forge world that agreed to construct it, greatly lengthening build time. The chapter however, has never regretted the choice, because to them, the Salvaxes was a gift from the Emperor Himself. * ''Death Gale'' (Strike Cruiser): The Death Gale possesses a roll of honour kills as long as the ship itself, the machine spirits of its weapon batteries and attached fighter craft curiously savage and vengeful, loosing torrents of fire and blasts of laser in volleys whose strength and speed easily outclasses other ships within her class. * ''Final Scream'' (Vanguard Cruiser): While many ships lay claim to their fire-power or engine output, the Final Scream had made a name for itself as being nigh on undetectable, its sleek, midnight black hull curiously ignored by radar and sensor scopes. As a result, often times foes will find themselves struck from an exposed quarter, by marines and broadside, only fully realising the horror of their position as the final, killing blow is struck. * ''Gertrans Faith'' (Strike Cruiser)': Named after the devout high priest the Wings of Salvaxes first encountered upon their arrival on Barbaris, the ships many machine spirits appear to have responded in kind the honour of being named after such an individual. While its weapon batteries let loose with an average power, and its shields are those typical of any other across the Imperium, what truly makes the ship unique is the undaunted and unrelenting machine spirits of the ships Vox network. Not once in the ships two millennia of service has vox communication ever been severed from Gertrans Faith, not once has its allies not been able to call across the distances for assistance, and be answered by the Cruisers booming cannons and reassuring connection. This has resulted in the Gertrans Faith being the ship primarily requested by the chaplains of the Wings of Salvaxes, for using its ever reliable vox networks, they are able to cast their stirring rhetoric far and wide, holding together sanity and faith across all ships in the fleet, as Gertran once held together the people of Barbaris. Chapter Relics ''Mordred Mordred is the imposing and deadly power spear that the current chapter master, Eulitus Ephrain carries to battle. Its unique construction and archaic power core allowing it to strike with a fury unmatched by any other weapon of its class. Its long, elegant shaft ends in a broad blade the length of a sword, complete with a great sweeping crossguard to ensure those skewered by the Chapter masters weapon do not become dead weights to the astartes fury. Such is the weapons destructive power on the charge that Ephrain has been known to not only pierce hulls and vehicles, but to tear great rending gashes along them as he speeds past on his bike, opening up tanks from prow to aft in a single charge, and leaving their crew ripe for slaughter. Defice Memoria The sacred Terminator Plate of the Lost Captain has changed hands so many times from one deranged commander to another, that the Machine spirit itself has become somewhat unhinged and brutal. This dark savagery empowers the Lost Captains own rage, urging them on to greater and greater acts of death and destruction, and so powerful is this aura of madness, that even those around the Lost Captain become affected by its terrifying sentience. As a result, wherever the Lost Captain, and the Defice Memoria ''go, those battle brothers already unhinged by the Black rage are spurred on to even greater acts of violence and purgation, resulting in carnage that cannot be coddled or controlled. ''The Raptors Talons The exact origin of these massive, curved power claws is shrouded in mystery, their name having always been etched along their curving, silvered blades. Some believe the artefacts are of Raven Guard make, owing to their name and the similarity between them and the Lightning Claws once employed by that esoteric Legion, but such suspicions have never been founded. What is known about them is the horrific damage they inflict upon both infantry and armour alike. Where most Lightning claws struggle to rent through even the most meagre of armoured plating, the Raptors Talons have no such difficulties. Able to cleave through even the hulls of land raiders as if they were paper, thick walls and adamantium bastions hold no protection from the deadly claws, or the deranged Lost Captain who wields them. Aetermissa The Master Crafted sword of the Chief Librarian alone holds no especial power or trait. It is indeed an ancient and artificer crafted force sword of marvellous craftsmanship, but alone it is little more than that, a fine, if unremarkable blade. However, now placed firmly in the hands of the new Chief Librarian, Leadros Kerventes, it has become synonymous with annihilation and destruction. Now, the sheer murderous might able to be unleashed by Kerventes with this blade has made even the sword an object of awe for those amongst the chapter who seek the path of the swordsman, and some whisper that should Kerventes ever fall, his swords machine spirit will impart his skill and ability on, to whomever is worthy of wielding it. Notable Quotes Feel Free To Add Your Own By: Feel Free to Add Your Own About: Category:Blood Angels Successors Category:Imperium Category:Space Marine Chapters Category:Space Marines Category:Unknown Founding